☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼

☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼

A loud knock echoed the large house, the twins immediately got up from the couch. "I'll get it, mum!" Nikolas exclaims, running to the door with Adelisa behind him. Valerie's eyes widened, she quickly hung up the phone to run downstairs. "Do not answer that door!" Unfortunately they didn't hear her as Nikolas pulled the door open, faced with four unfamiliar people. The twins met them once but it's not like they had the best memory.

"Hey buddy, where's your parents?" Han leaned down to their height with a gentle smile. Nik furrowed his brows, looking to his sister who knew everything. "Dad isn't home. My mom is upstairs giving our cat a bath," Adelisa answers with a smile. Just in time, Valerie rushed over, pushing her kids behind her, she turns and kneels down to their height, not noticing the four unexpected visitors at the door. "What did I say about answering the door when it's not me or your father?"

The twins sighed. "Not to answer it because it could be a bad person. We're sorry, mum," they say simultaneously.

Val nods, pressing a kiss to their heads. "That's okay, just don't do it again. Now, go upstairs and dry off the cat." They nod and run away to do as told. Val groaned lowly and turned around, tilting her head at Han. "You couldn't have called me first, given a heads up? I have children! You're on the bloody run! Don't think I haven't seen the disaster at Rome! It's all over the bloody news." She exclaims, hitting his shoulder. Han sighs, giving an apologetic look. "I know, I'm sorry, Val. But you're the only person we can trust. You know I wouldn't ask if it wasn't important."

Valerie inhales sharply, closing her eyes, she moves to let them inside. "Uhm, let me call Maddie so she can pick up the twins, then I'll be all yours." She says, heading upstairs as they all look around, admiring the home. Roman, and surprisingly Tej, make their way towards the large fridge full of food. "You think she'll mind if I make a sandwich?" Roman mumbles, taking out a lot of ingredients and spreading them out on the kitchen island. "Make me one too," Tej said, sitting down on the stool with a bag of chips in his hand.

A knock echoed the home, they all tensed before Han made his way over, checking through the window first. He seen it was Maddie and opened the door for her. "What's up? The kids ready?" She asks, walking inside, Han took notice of the baby bump she has. As if on cue, the twins run downstairs, immediately wrapping their arms around their Aunt Maddie. "Hey! How's it goin'? Y'all excited to spend the weekend with me?" She laughs. "Yeah! Can we go watch Mateo wrestle?"

Val walked downstairs, all dressed and cleaned up, she gave Maddie a grateful look. "Thank you so much for taking them. I wouldn't have asked if I wasn't desperate." Maddie waved her off as she watched the twins play with the cat. "It's cool. I get it. Besides, it gives me more time to appreciate children before I have my own." Val chuckles, pressing a kiss to Maddie's cheek. "Alright. Come on, darlings! Remember to behave for your Aunt." They nod as she pulls them into a hug, Han watches with a soft smile.

Val stood up watching them run over to Maddie's car. "Take them out of London. Keep 'em safe, alright?" Maddie nodded firmly, hugging Val once more before she helped the kids into the car and drove off. Val shut the door with a deep sigh, hating that she had to leave them. She turned to the group, Ramsey, Tej, and Roman all munching on a sandwich as Han leaned against the counter, watching her. She walked over to stand beside him, crossing her arms over her chest. "Okay, tell me everything. I want to know everything before I get involved."

Tej starts, explaining what happened in Rome, how they got requested by the agency to steal a computer chip during it's transit in Rome. But it turned out that Dante Reyes, the son of a dead drug lord, Hernan Reyes, had set them up and released a metal bomb into the streets. They said how Letty was arrested and Dom was in Rio de Janeiro looking for an awaiting Dante Reyes after Dante attempted to kidnap Little Brian, who was saved by Jakob. Valerie was down the second she heard that Dante had tried to kidnap Little B.

Valerie cleared her throat and stood up from the counter, reaching for her phone. "Let's go visit my husband, shall we?"

☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼

Valerie's heels clicked against the concrete as they approached a building where she knew her husband was, handling business. "Bowie tagged us. The agency's on our tail. We need to find gear and get to the rendezvous as soon a possible." Ramsey says. Valerie gives Han a knowing look, and he let's out a sigh. "It's right here." Han turns to the group, Valerie standing next to the keypad on the wall that would unlock the door. "You guys hold back. Let me take care of this."

"No, no, no. Th-That's a bad idea. I mean like Roman-level bad." Tej objects immediately, Roman looking at him in confusion. "What? What are you talking about man?" He questioned in offense. "You heard what I said," Tej retorts. Val closes her eyes, pretending not to hear this conversation. Roman brushes off Tej's comments. "Look, bro, you don't have to do this, man. You know I got your back." Tej internally scoffs, quick to correct Roman. "We got your back."

Ramsey clears her throat, "you guys realize you're talking about him in front of his wife, correct?" Val shoots her a grateful look, this was getting quite awkward for her taste.

Han puts out his fist to Roman. "I got to do this alone." Roman sighs, bumping his fist before Han walks towards the door, brushing his hair back. Han knocks on the door, Val pursed her lips as she looked down at the picture Maddie sent her of the kids. The door opens, Deckard face to face with someone he thought he once killed. "I have something to talk to you about," Han says. Deckard didn't really seem to believe this was gonna end well, and you couldn't really blame him. "The only reason a dead guy shows up at my door: revenge."

Han reaches for his chips in his pocket, which appeared to look like he was reaching for a weapon. Big mistake on his part when dealing with an assassin/spy. Deckard suddenly grabs Han's shirt with both hands and throws him inside. Valerie's eyes widened, going to stop her husband but he shuts the door, locking it. The three run over expectantly, calling Han's name. Val moves to the keypad, punching in the code but it clearly got changed. "Really, Deckard?!" She hits the door in frustration.

From inside, Deckard pulls off his gloves, walking towards Han who seemed to be bothered by his snacks being ruined. "Should have stayed dead. I don't like repeating myself." He said, ignoring the loud shouts from his wife on the outside. Han scoffs, holding up his empty chip bag. "You ruined my snacks. And didn't you name your kid after me?" Deckard charged at him first, directing punches that Han managed to block. He pushes him back. "Relax. I don't want to fight you."

"Then this is gonna end quick."

Val grabs her phone, attempting to hack into the keypad and change the code as Ramsey, Tej, and Roman dealt with the bad guys who approached them in tactical gear. "Alright, I'm in!" Valerie punches in the code, unlocking the door just as she heard more gunshots go off. Roman kicks open the door and they all rush in with wide eyes. Valerie looks around noticing the dead agents on the floor that Deckard and Han teamed up to kill together.

"You okay?" Roman asks. Before anyone could answer, the punching bag opened, a half naked man gasped for air as he steps out. He screams, startling Roman who also let's out a scream. The man turns to leave, jumping when he sees Deckard. They watched as he runs away. Valerie furrowed her brows, trying to connect the dots. Roman, was still extremely confused by that. "Now, see, I understand all this," he gestures to the dead agents before pointing to the open punching bag. "What the hell was that?"

Val arched a brow at her husband. "Was that the twins teacher? Seriously, Deckard?" He shrugs, not seeing much of a problem with the situation. "What? Nik said he gave them a C." Val rolls her eyes, walking over to him, stepping over the dead agents in the process. Han cleared his throat awkwardly, shrugging, he surprisingly agrees with Deckard. "He's right, the guy could've at least sprung for a B+, they're still kids." Val blinks, caught of guard by the two agreeing on something.

As Tej teases Roman for getting scared, Valerie turns to face Deckard. "I tried calling you. The agency is after the crew, including us. That's why he's here, why everyone is here. They need our help." She explains. Deckard sighs, sliding a hand around her waist. "Where's the kids?" She gave him a pointed look, "they're with their Aunt, safe and sound." He nods, looking around at the mess, he knew they needed to get out of there. "Alright. We need to go before they more of their agents here."

Valerie nods in agreement, moving to toss Han her keys. "Take my car. Follow behind us. We have a safe house, off the grid. Let's go." Deckard takes her hand and they walk off to his car as Han and the rest take Valerie's car. It didn't take long for them to arrive at the large secluded area, with, surprisingly to the crew, included an air strip. "Valerie, what is this place?" Han questioned, having never been here before and he knew where a lot of Valerie's safe houses were.

"Let's just call it a family heirloom. My mother passed it down to me when I got married. Everything you need will be here." Valerie pressed her hands against the screen, unlocking the door when it recognized her. She led the crew inside, Deckard walking beside her as they all look around. "Oh my god, I think I'm in heaven," Roman mumbles, admiring the the cars that were lined up and stacked against the wall.

"Valerie?" Austin jogs over with a grin. "Austin." Val smiled, embracing her brother warmly. "What are you guys doing here?" Austin questioned, moving over to shake Roman and Tej's hands, having worked with them to create the car that they shot into space. "We needed to get off the grid. You down to fly a plane today?" Valerie asked, following Austin downstairs to their tec room where she was sure Ramsey would enjoy, same as Tej.

"Whatever you need, sis. Also, one of your safe houses has been compromised, a ton of agents raided it. We were able to hit lock down protocol, knocked them out with anesthetic gas, and had our crew go down to arrest them." Austin explains as he pulls up the footage on one of the screens, all of them watching it with knowing looks. "We have one of them in the interrogation room with Selena. I was able to hack into their interface, so I know exactly where they're are and will be. We're one step ahead of them." Austin grins.

Val smirks, pressing a kiss to his fluffy head of hair. "I'm so glad mother never gave you up for adoption."

Austin rolls his eyes, letting out a small chuckle, he noticed Ramsey staring at him and returned a smile her way. Val pats his shoulders. "I appreciate all of this so much, and I hate to ask, but I need you to get everything you have on Dante Reyes. I want to know everything about him. I want to know how he thinks, I want to know who his targets are. I want to know exactly who I'm dealing with. Think you can do that for me?"

Austin turns in his chair to face her, giving a knowing look. "I want the keys to your car for a month, a date with Margarita, plus I get your Netflix password, and then it's a yes." He bargains. They all watched curiously, wondering what Valerie was gonna do next. Val tilt her head, getting a cocky smirk from him. She groaned, knowing he wasn't gonna give up. "Fine. You get the car for a week, but I can't promise a date with Margarita." She proposed.

"Two weeks, and if you can't get Margarita, she'll do," Austin nods his head pointedly at Ramsey. Tej and Roman both go to object until Ramsey cuts them off. "I'm down for that if it gets us all the information." Val smiles gratefully and turns to her smirking brother with raised brows. "There. We have a deal?" Austin nods, shaking her hand before turning in his chair to begin his work.

Roman scoffs, "so you won't go on a date with me but you'll go out wit' super nerd right here?" Ramsey rolls her eyes as she takes a chair to sit next to Austin and watch as he hacked into everything and anything. Valerie turns to Deckard who was typing something on one of the computers. "What are you doing?" She questions suspiciously. Deckard sighs, "I'm just checkin' on the kids." Val huffs in exasperation, taking his hands in hers. "The kids are fine, there's nothing you need to worry about. Maddie and Mateo are protecting them. Trust me."

Deckard took a deep breath before shutting the laptop, causing Val to smile. "Okay. I trust you." Val pressed a kiss to his lips. "Thank you." She turns to Han, Roman, and Tej, Ramsey too busy flirting with Austin. "Follow me. I'll lead you to our weapons room. Deckard, you go and check on Selena, make sure everything is going smoothly with the interrogation." Deckard nodded, going the opposite way to the interrogation rooms.

A few hours later, the crew walked towards Valerie's private plane. Austin pulled down the door and stood on the steps next to his sister. Valerie rubbed her hands together and grinned. "Who's ready to kick the devil's ass?"

☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼

a/n: and this chapter concludes fast x! this book is officially completed until the next movie comes out! im so sad but also very happy bc i enjoyed writing every second of this book, u can really see the development with my writing and how much it improves, so thank you for sticking around even during the cringy parts!

ALSO, would like to add, I have just dropped a new deckard shaw book! it is titled "CREED" and focuses on Leslie Creed, who similar to Valerie, is also an assassin! so please, go check that out and show some support!

THANK YOU SO SO MUCH! -adriswrld

☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼